Jim Six: State candy a sticky situation

There's a move afoot to make salt water taffy the state candy of New Jersey.

Fifth-grade students from Sayreville's Samsel Elementary School have championed the chewy treat with the state legislature.

Here's the legend: In 1883, David Bradley's candy store in Atlantic City was flooded during a storm, soaking his stock of taffy. When a kid came in the next day and asked for some taffy, Bradley offered her some "salt water taffy." He was joking, but the kid loved it.

The sticky, gooey treat is still being sold in Atlantic City, Ocean City and even, according to Wikipedia, in Salt Lake City, Utah.

These fifth graders apparently got the idea after Superstorm Sandy, remembering the legend of salt water taffy, according to an Associated Press story.

The kids took their case to the Assembly's Gaming and Tourism Committee and now the "Taffy Bill" will be considered by the entire legislative body.

We already have a number of state symbols: the purple violet (flower), the tall ship Meerwald, the honeybee (insect), the Knobbed Whelk (shell), the brook trout (fish), the horse (animal), Eastern Goldfinch (bird), blueberry (fruit), red oak (tree), Hadrosaurus Foulkii (dinosaur) and the square dance (state American folk dance.)

There have been certain attempts to get a state song, but so far, no one has succeeded in that.

So, why not a state candy?

Salt water taffy would be good. I am partial, if not to salt water taffy, to salt water taffy boxes.

Many, many years ago, we gave friends a present wrapped in a Fralinger's salt water taffy box, with a painting of Atlantic City at night on the front. At Christmas, they gave us a present in the same Fralinger's box.

So every Christmas for a lot of years, that turquoise box went back and forth. It needed a little tape to protect it over time, but it held up pretty well. And, in fact, the box became the gift: there were Box calendars, mugs, Christmas ornaments, T-shirts, you name it.

The tradition eventually ended — I think the pressure to come up with new ideas for the old candy box was getting to us.

So, if there was a move to have a Fralinger's Salt Water Taffy box become the official state candy box, I'd support that.

In the meantime, I can get behind salt water taffy as the official state candy.